March Avery, born 1932, is the daughter of famous and influential American painter Milton Avery and American artist Sally Michel Avery. Inspired by their example, Avery grew up painting with her family and developed a distinct style, one that uses abstract forms and brilliant color to depict the scenes of everyday life.
Avery avoided the influences, like world events and abstract expressionism embraced by many artists in the 1930s and '40s. Instead, she always adhered to her father's methods: reducing elements to their essential forms, eliminating many details, and instead developed flattened shapes and strong colors. Even today, Avery is most influenced by her father, who died at age 85 in 1965. Without much parental supervision, perhaps she gravitated to his style by osmosis.
Avery grew up in New York around her parents’ artist friends, such as Mark Rothko, Adolf Gottlieb, Barnett Newman and Marsden Hartley. She spent her summers in the country, which has had a clear influence on her work.
The artist never took a single studio or art history class. Instead, Avery hoped she might discover the definition of "truth and beauty" by studying philosophy at Barnard College. Youthful idealism didn't stop the headstrong artist from returning to her roots. "I knew no one but artists, so I knew that is all I would ever be," she says.
Avery married Philip Cavanaugh in 1952 and graduated from Barnard College in 1954 with a degree in philosophy. Avery’s son, Sean, is also a painter.
Avery, who is based in New York, has been exhibited at museums and galleries around the country, including The Chrysler Museum, Vanderbilt University, Bryn Mawr College, the Brooklyn Museum, the Newark Museum, the New Britain Museum and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.
Waverly Gallery, New York, New York, 1963-1978
Paul Kessler Gallery, Provincetown, Massachusetts, 1963-78
Fontana Gallery, Narberth, Pennsylvania, 1964-1981
The Milton Avery Family, The New Britain Museum of American Art, Connecticut, 1968
Paintings by Milton Avery and His Family, Allentown Art Museum, Pennsylvania, September 4-26, 1971
March Avery: Recent Paintings and Mixed Media, Agra Gallery, Washington, DC, 1972
March Avery: Recent Paintings, Summit Gallery, New York, New York, 1982
Visual Images Gallery, Wellfleet, Massachusetts, 1982-1983
Armstrong Gallery, New York, New York, 1986
Kendall Gallery, Wellfleet, Massachusetts, 1987-2010
Bell Gallery, Woodstock, New York, 1988
Sena East Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico, 1988
David Barnett Gallery, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 1992
March Avery: Selected Works: 1974-1994, Thomas J. Walsh Art Gallery, Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts, Fairfield University, Connecticut, in conjunction with Hoorn-Ashby Gallery, New York, 1994
Fay Gold Gallery, Atlanta, Georgia, 1994
Hoorn-Ashby Gallery, New York, New York, 1995
Marguerite Oestreicher Gallery, New Orleans, Louisiana, 1997
Yearly exhibitions, Marin-Price Gallery, Chevy Chase, Maryland, 2004-2014
March Avery, Louise McCagg Gallery, Diana Center, Barnard College, Columbia University, New York, New York, March 27-April 14, 2019
March Avery, Blum and Poe, New York, NY, June 27-September 16, 2019
Summer with the Averys: [Milton/Sally/March], Bruce Museum, Greenwich, Connecticut, May 11-September 1, 2019
March Avery, Blum and Poe, Los Angeles, November 14, 2020-January 9, 2021
Art & History Museums, Maitland, Florida
Artists Association of Nantucket, Massachusetts
Brooklyn Museum, New York
William and Uytendale Scott Memorial Study Collection of Works by Women Artists, Bryn Mawr College Art & Archeology Collections, Pennsylvania
The Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, Virginia
The Farnsworth Art Museum, Rockland, Maine
The Long Island Museum of American Art, History & Carriages, Stony Brook, New York
Newark Museum, New Jersey
New Britain Museum of American Art, Connecticut
Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Pennsylvania
Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee
Woodstock Artists Association and Museum, New York
Woodstock Historical Society, New York
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Monday - Friday: 9:00 am - 5:30 pm
Evenings & Weekends
by appointment
